Blake Anthony, Be You, B.A

With the commonalities in music today, B.A. displays a transcendent style of grit and melody that aids in separating his sound. The young artist coming from the belly of Tacoma, Washington is eager to make a name for himself. With the start of his sound coming from a vending machine, the musical growth of B.A. is shown in his latest album, ‘Blake Anthony’.

“I was doing the beats mainly, not like producing but, I would be banging on vending machines or beat boxing. And that just kind of evolved to me stepping in and rapping too,” said Anthony. “It’s a very ‘my story’ album but not as clear as I want to hit it, so I’m building towards that piece. This is a good step for what I want to do with my music in the future.”

Anthony, now able to write and perform under the person he is, a rapper who displays bars, one after the other.

“Hell yeah, this is the first thing I’ve done, where my name is finally my own, and not under some character persona and this is my first debut tape under my name with songs that are straight up about me; to where I’m not trying anything other than being myself.” said Anthony.

“Blake Anthony”, Cover Art

Moving to Tacoma in 2013, laying fairly close to Seattle; a city primarily known for its potent musical history. B.A attracted attention from Seattle legend, Vitamin D. Producing the opening track ‘Head Up’ on his latest album release ‘Blake Anthony’, Vitamin D also mixed and mastered the album.

With the genuine chase of wanting to make music; B.A. displays eagerness in every track on ‘Blake Anthony’. While having a job on the side of his smooth-flowing persona, Blake has to pay for many of his own endeavors that come with being a self- managed artist.

“Bottom line is there are people that are making this rap shit or just doing this because they can pop with it and make money, but I have to make money doing this. I have too much of my own money and time invested.” said Anthony.

With a true passion for music, he brings creativity from his days in video game and comic book design. Originally planning on going to school for video game design. He said, “life changes when you least expect it” and he wanted to take his sound on a more serious route. With his career on the rise and his followers and fans growing by the day; B.A. makes music for the people.

“I want to reach out to people who feel like you have to be a certain way to be a certain thing. I was in school for video game design,” said Anthony. “That aside, I want to do it for the people who really want some shit but feel like they might not be able to achieve it.”

Blake Anthony discussed his readiness to open up about his pain and sorrow upon his return to the studio. Sharing experiences from his life that have led him to the other side as a stronger artist and individual. “Come September I’ll get back into my studio routine, and I definitely know I’ll be writing about that shit,” said Anthony. “When you’re creating music, you have appreciation of the level that other people are doing it at. I feel like creativity is a renewable resource, but it’s also limited in any instance.”

With a lot in store for the Seattle-residing rapper; there’s nothing but hard ‘flausing’ the booth and on stage. Blake Anthony, a name most should keep an open ear for, as he displays a hustler’s raw bravado preaching about his life and the struggles of making it.

Check out his latest album, “Blake Anthony” below, along with a few questions.

Explain the meaning behind the “Black Coffee” video?

“It was kind of based around the line in that song, “might have a blanket on a bench before this shit is over”. I was talking about being kind of the folk artist, in a sense of me talking about my life. Once again, because that song is on this album. But in the video, we thought it would be cool for Dante to come in and give me some money and some weed to start my day as I’m homeless on the street, Broke and penniless but still, rapping. I get up off the street, I’m rapping to the camera as I go to get my coffee and at the end of the night, I end up at the Hayes Street Bridge, and chill out for the night; find somewhere to crash until the police make me move.”

What’s next for Blake Anthony?

“I got a few shows coming up, I’ll probably be doing South by Southwest next year, other than that I’m just going to be writing, I got an album with Star Stereo, I got ‘Black Anthony 2’, I got some work with Wffls, I got a lot of music coming but I probably won’t have it released any time soon. Just know this ‘Blake Anthony’ album is just a steppingstone to a 3-part process, and at the end of that will be a full album with about 20 tracks; so, stay tuned man.” 

Source: Blake Anthony

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